Peristaltic pumps are used for controlling the flow of a fluid in an elastic tubular conduit. These pumps have many medical and industrial applications.
In one form of peristaltic pumps, a rotor is used to rotate a plurality of eccentric cams. Each cam, in turn, intermittently collapses the elastic conduit at an initial contact point, and slides along the conduit over a short distance as the rotor turns. A second cam contacts the initial contact point and the first cam is then released from the conduit as the second cam slides along the conduit. As this process is repeated, a flow of fluid in the conduit is generated in the direction of the sliding of the cams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,964 to Ben-Shalom discloses a peristaltic pump in which a plurality of electromagnets are arranged along an elastic conduit. The electromagnets are activated according to a temporo-spatial scheme in order to generate undulations along a magnetizable membrane that is disposed along the conduit. The undulations in the membrane generate undulations in the wall of the conduit, which in turn generate a flow of fluid in the conduit.